Kurama's Gift
by Atticus Goodfellow
Summary: Naruto travels back to the past to kick some bad guy butt! And it's all thanks to Kurama! Time Travel YATTF Not super depressing at all! YAY!
1. Chapter 1

Naruto looked down at the hole in his chest. He was dying. His first thought upon realizing this was of his friends. They had had so much faith in him. They had encouraged and taught him. They had acknowledged him. And he let them all down. A wave of sadness washed over him and he closed his eyes. When he opened them he was in front of the seal that held Kurama.

**"What are you doing here brat? You're dying; I thought you'd use what time you have left to say something that would somehow turn the bad guy good. You're good at that you know." **The Great Bijuu rumbled.

"Ha, I would but I think he's a little beyond that now. Besides, I wanted to talk to you." Naruto replied

**"Hn?" **Kurama could feel his container growing weaker by the second.

"I wanted to thank you for everything you've done for me. You've saved my life more times than I can count. You've helped me protect my precious people. And... you've been my friend." Naruto paused for a while. "I'm sorry that I couldn't protect you like you've always protected me." He lowered his head to hide the tears of shame that had begun to fall.

Kurama looked down at the young man who had become his closest friend. He was silent for a moment before shifting his whole body upright.

**"Tch, looks like I have to save your ass again."** He stated.

"Huh?" Naruto looked up.

"**I going send you back. You're going to get another try, and you'd better be damn sure you do a better job this time." **Kurama growled out.

"I don't understand. You're going to start the fight over?" Naruto asked. It was getting harder to concentrate.

"**Tch, I'm not going to waste this on a couple of hours; this will be a lot bigger." **He watched as Naruto closed his eyes as he fought to stay awake. **"Things will be harder this time around, but I believe in you." **He started molding a massive amount of chakra and channeling it into his container.

"Mmhmm..." Naruto nodded seemingly unaware of what was going on anymore.

"**...It was nice getting to know you... Naruto." **And with that Kurama completed his jutsu.

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><p>Naruto opened his eyes slowly. Was this death? He hadn't thought he would feel this... tired. No that wasn't it. He felt weak, almost as if he hadn't exercised in months. He moved to push himself up and that was when he realized something was odd. He was small. Really small. Like little kid small. The room he was in was very dark, but he could still make out the tiny hand he brought up in front of his face. What had happened? He quickly thought back to the last thing he remembered. There was a hole in his chest, he was dying , he said goodbye to Kurama, then... Kurama had said something about saving him.<p>

'He said he was going to send be back.' Naruto quickly entered his mindscape to check with Kurama that this was really happening. He found himself in front of the seal but was greeted by someone unexpected.

"Mom... Dad..." Naruto stared at the two people standing standing in front of him.

"Hello Naruto." Kushina said with a warm smile.

"How are you here?" Naruto asked.

"I sealed what was left of our chakra in you while I was sealing the Kyuubi. We were only supposed to be released if you ever had trouble with it's chakra. I don't know why we were released now, it seems likely that it is because the Kyuubi is not in the seal." Minato replied.

"What?" Naruto's eyes flew wide and he rushed past his parents to look into the empty cage. "Kurama! Are you there?" Silence was his only reply. Minato and Kushina watched their son slowly sink to the ground as realization started to set in. He replayed Kurama's last words in his head over and over.

"**Things will be harder this time... It was nice getting to know you..." **Kurama was gone.

"How can I do it without you?" Naruto whispered. He could still hear Kurama's final words.

"**I believe in you... Naruto."**

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><p>I listened to a sad song that reminded me of sad things and made me think of a sad start to YATTF. I just wrote this at about 3:30ish am so I wouldn't be surprised if there are some words missing or the dialog sucks. I didn't reread it because I'm tired and didn't want to. Feel free to point out everything wrong with it. I won't be offended. I'll even try to fix anything you point out.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

Naruto spent the rest of the night being comforted by his parents and explaining everything to them. Luckily, they didn't have any reason to expel their chakra, so they had plenty of time with their son.

"I just don't know what to do. I can't go around shouting that I'm from the future without seeming like a crazy person, but without Kurama, I'm going to need all the help I can get." Naruto sighed.

"Naruto, no one is going to think you're crazy. Right now you're a young child; the worst anyone will think is that you have an overactive imagination." Kushina said, smiling as she finished. "Look, you convinced us; I'm sure you can convince Hiruzen."

"But that's different! You guys are my parents. Besides, you're stuck in my head so it's not like you could send me to Interrogation if you thought I was some enemy shinobi that had taken control of your son." Naruto replied.

"There are plenty of ways of proving that you're telling the truth Naruto. You can show him the Rasengan or even have a Yamanaka Mind-Walk you if it comes to that. And we'll be here to help you. We should last for a couple days at least so long as we don't use any of our chakra." Minato assured his son. "I trust Hiruzen, Naruto. I know he'll do the right thing."

"... But what about changing things? The more people know, the bigger the changes and everything could go way worse than last time." Naruto asked, still not quite convinced.

"Hiruzen has been a ninja for a long time. He knows how to be subtle." Minato chuckled softly before sobering. "Things are going to be different Naruto. There's no stopping that fact. You just have to use the information you've gained as best you can."

"Besides, I want you to have someone you can speak honestly with." Kushina said. "I don't want you to spend your life hiding who you truly are from everyone around you."

"Yeah... yeah, you're right." Naruto nodded. "I'll talk to him in the morning."

"Great! Until then, why don't you tell us about some of your friends?" Kushina asked.

* * *

><p>Naruto was on his way to the Academy. The Hokage's office was at the top floor of the building. He had spent the last few hours trading stories with his parents. It had mostly kept his mind off of the fact that Kurama was gone. Earlier they had discussed the fact that he might revive at some point as Bijuu are known to do. They didn't know for sure given that his yang chakra was still sealed in Minato inside of the Shinigami's stomach and the manner in which he "died" was something never seen before. Even if he did come back, he definitely wouldn't want to be sealed again.<p>

Naruto sighed and shook the thoughts from his head. Instead he focused on how odd it was to be a kid again. Moving around was a little weird, but was still kind of second nature so it wasn't a big deal. The thing that made him most uncomfortable was how huge everything seemed from his perspective. It was pretty intimidating only coming up to most people's waist when he stood up straight.

The cold shoulder and occasional glare he received from the villagers was another unwelcome side effect of his trip through time. It didn't really bother him all that much, but he would miss the smiles and waves he was constantly sent in the future.

It took him longer than he expected, but he finaly made it to the large building. Despite all the assurances his parents had given him, he was suddenly very nervous. He took a deep breath and steeled his nerves before making his way up.

"Hey Oji-san, I hope you don't have anything special planned for today, because I've got something important to talk to you about!" Naruto exclaimed as he burst through the door.

Sarutobi eyebrows rose in surprise at the intrusion. As did the genin team that were in the middle of getting a mission.

"Err... I'll come back once you're done." Naruto awkwardly said before backing out of the room.

* * *

><p>Once the team had gone, Naruto entered the office again.<p>

"Good morning Naruto." Hiruzen offered as he folded his hands atop his desk.

"Hey old man." Naruto greeted the Hokage.

"Now, tell me; what was so important that you felt it necessary to skip class for?" The Sandaime asked, not unkindly.

"Um... well, it's kinda something only you should hear. So if you have any Anbu watching or anything, could you send them away?" Narutp asked. As soon as he was done talking, he felt Hiruzen's chakra reach out and touch his own, probably to confirm he wasn't an enemy nin in a henge.

"Of course Naruto." The Sandaime said before sending his guards away with some short had signals. "We're alone now."

"Okay. What I'm about to tell you is going to sound unbelievable, but I swear it's all true and I can prove it so please don't interrupt." Naruto said all in one breath.

"Calm down Naruto. Just explain things slowly." Hiruzen chuckled.

Naruto took a deep breath before meeting the old man's eye.

"I'm from the future."

"..."

"... Well?" Naruto asked when he got no reply.

"You said not to interrupt." The Hokage replied calmly.

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><p><strong>I know what you're thinking. "These chapters are so short." Well I'll have you know that this one was actually longer than the first one, and the next one will probably be longer than this one. You guys get to watch me as I grow into someone who is less indecisive about his writing. By the end of this, I could be writing normal sized chapters that I haven't deleted 7 times to rewrite.<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

Hiruzen had been relieved at first when the boy had claimed to be from the future. He had been worried that someone had revealed something about the burden Naruto carried or perhaps even his parentage. Instead it seemed he was just up to his normal scheming that would most likely end with "... so you have to take me out for ramen at least twice a week or the village is doomed."

Instead, he had started off about Atkatsuki and Obito Uchiha and how they would capture the chakra of all the Bijuu to control the world. This statement alone had alerted him that this conversation wasn't going to go how he had thought.

Naruto told him that Obito had become the Ten Tails Jinkuurichi and that he had a Rinnegan and that not even the Hokages could hurt him, but that his Sage Chakra could. He explained how before that he was Jiraiya's apprentice and had become a Toad Sage. He also explained that he had teamed up with the Eight Tails Jinchuuriki and learned to control the power of his Bijuu, Kurama, and that he used combined the two to make an awesome cloak.

"But that's not important. Obito made this crazy tree thing that was going to Bijuu blast everyone, but I was able to attach my chakra to everyone so that we were connected sort of like with Kage Bunshin, and then Dad was able to Hiriashin us all to safety. Then Obito started going all crazy again and started talking to himself. The next thing I knew he was covered in black stuff and there was a hole in my chest."

Naruto paused for a moment before continuing.

"I went to say goodbye to Kurama and he said that he was going to save me. That he was going to give me another chance. When I woke up I was a kid again."

Hiruzen was silent, seemingly lost in thought.

"I can prove that I'm from the future if you don't believe me." Naruto offered up. "I can show you the Rasengan or the Kage Bunshin."

Hiruzen nodded and indicated to go ahead.

Naruto immediately created a clone. He noticed that having his kid sized chakra (which was still about Jounin sized) made it far easier to use. He then created a Rasengan in his right hand, again with surprising ease.

"... You said you can talk to the Kyuubi. Can you ask him whether your trip through time was a permanent one or if you're just here momentarily to warn us of the future?" Hiruzen finally spoke.

Naruto was surprised by the question.

"I think I'm here permanently. Why?" he replied.

Hiruzen smiled sadly, "You must understand; I know that you're still Naruto, but you've essentially just told me that the little eight year old boy I knew is gone and never coming back."

"Oh... I'm sorry Jiji. I guess I didn't think about it like that." Naruto said awkwardly. "Um... about asking Kurama... I think it would be easier if I just showed you."

Naruto raised his fist toward the Hokage. "Bump my fist."

Hiruzen looked at Naruto, confused.

"I'm gonna connect our chakra and use that to bring you to the seal." Naruto explained to the old ninja.

Hiruzen hesitated for a brief moment before nodding. "Alright, but I'm going to need you to explain quite a few things after we're done talking to the Kyuubi." He then preceded to reach across his desk and touched his fist to Naruto's.

The next thing he knew he was standing in what seemed to be a large sewer. In front of him was a gigantic gate with a small paper seal in it's center. He looked down at the young beside him and then back to the gate. There was only darkness behind it. The Hokage had expected the beast to be there to greet them.

"Where is the Kyuubi?" he asked. Naruto's expression turned sad and he hesitated to answer.

"He's gone."

Hiruzen was surprised when it wasn't Naruto that answered. He turned towards the voice and gasped in surprise.

"Minato..." He then looked at the woman at the Forth's side. "Kushina..."

"He didn't escaped." Minato continued. "Kushina and I would have noticed if he had. It seems whatever technique he used to send Naruto back destroyed his chakra completely."

Hiruzen had so many questions he didn't know where to start. How were they here? Was the Kyuubi gone for good or would it regenerate? Why would it kill itself?

"Tell me everything." He ordered.

* * *

><p>It took most of the day, but Naruto managed to give an abridged version of his career as a ninja. They were only interrupted once when Hiruzen's assistant came to check on them. He made sure to tell him to cancel the rest of his appointments for the day. Though they did make sure to break for a short meal.<p>

"I'll write up a list tonight of any important event's that we're probably going to want to change and I'll bring it over tomorrow." Naruto stated as he stood up from the chair he had found himself during their long talk.

"Thank you, Naruto." Hiruzen nodded to the young man. "I'll see you then."

Naruto made his way to the door before turning back to the old man.

"...I know it's not same, but you're still going to be the one I come to when I need advise or when I need to complain about my day or when I want to get a bowl of ramen. I might not be the eight year old you knew anymore, but you're still my Jiji. You're the first precious person I ever had." With that he turned and made his way out of the room.

* * *

><p><strong>I know this is taking me forever to write, but hey, at least I'm writing. I just started a new job and it's been super exhausting. I wanted to touch briefly on the fact that it would be very sad to lose someone close to you because their future self had taken their body over. I couldn't really show it too much because Hiruzen has been a ninja and a leader for many years; he's not about to cry like a baby. <strong>

**Again, feel free to point out any oopsie daisies or any annoying things you see in my fic. I welcome constructive criticism. **


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